Resolve to make social media a habit for your organization!

Social networking is, hands down, the most inexpensive way small to mid-sized organizations can build relationships with prospective customers.

A whopping 74 percent of consumers rely on social networks to guide their purchase decisions, according to an ODM Group study. That’s rich opportunity for your organization to 1) provide engaging content to its target market and 2) influence others to share your information on their networks, which can translate into increased profits and memberships.

If you devote 30 minutes a day to social media, I am confident that by the end of March you will see an increase in your organization’s social media presence. And you will be much better equipped as your company enters the year’s second quarter.

Below are five tips + 1 bonus tip to help you make social media a daily habit:

Learn from the competition. Spend a little time every day observing how your competitors are performing on social media. At the very least, you should know the social media platforms they use, how often they publish information and the content that inspires engagement. On the flip side, you should check out what information is not motivating people to respond. This is data that will serve as competitive analysis and ideas for content.

Communicate with your fans. When someone comments on your organization’s page, comment back to them. Since social networking is at the core of social media, responding to your fans will show that your organization is actively engaged. In marketing, we know that 83 percent of consumers will recommend a brand if they trust it. Imagine the level of trust you will build on social media if your organization is responsive, while contributing to the online dialogue.

Promote a post. If you identify a popular post, you can promote the post–for a nominal fee of perhaps $25.00– to give it greater exposure. You may be wondering if promoting or “boosting” a post is advertisement. It is, but without the hard sell. Only 16 percent of your fans see an update from your business, so promoting a popular post will expand your reach.

Track your performance. On a weekly basis, see how your organization is performing on the various social media platforms. This includes tracking the number of comments, likes, shares, retweets, mentions and followers. You’ll get a clear idea about the kinds of content your fans like or dislike.

Utilize social media platforms in different ways. If you are on several platforms–Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and LinkedIn are examples–each medium should differ in content. For example, your LinkedIn page may include a post that features industry advice from a senior level manager. An Instagram post may include photos of your organization’s day-to-day operations. Both are communications on social media, but each uses the elements of its platform to communicate in a different way.

Bonus tip: If your organization is on Twitter, host a tweet-up: real-time conversations with followers. During last year’s campaign season, I facilitated a tweet-up with a political expert who weighed in on various ballot propositions. We created dialogue with our Twitter followers as our expert responded to tweets and detailed pros and cons. Think of ways you, too, can harness the power of real-time conversation.